Hitchin' A Ride

As I met with an adorable wide-eyed first grader today, I followed my standard getting-to-know-you interview format. When we talked about her family, she told me about her pets...3 cats and a dog. The fair-skinned child told me their names and admitted that one cat had recently run away, causing her to cry. Empathizing with her sadness easily since I'm a huge animal lover too, I said, "I understand why you cried, and I agree that losing a pet can be one of the very saddest parts of life." Brightening up a bit, she looked up from the picture she was drawing and said, "But Tootsie went to the animal shelter. She got a ride on the cat bus and went there." Now in case you're not from Knoxville, let me explain that our community buses are called KAT buses, an acronym for Knox Area Transit. Whether someone in this sweet little girl's family told her that story, or whether she saw the KAT buses and put that explanation together on her own, I don't know. However, it seemed to bring her comfort, and although sad, it brought an unexpressed giggle to our conversation!